Hoped you all like that last chapter. Here is the next one. Please review everyone! Danielle xo

[DISCLAIMER/COPYRIGHT: I do not own any of the existing characters or storylines in Home and Away but any characters, storylines or ideas used in this story are strictly copyrighted and are not to be used by any other person/s without written permission of the author of this story. Thank-you.]

BELLA POV

I woke up curled up in the corner of the leather sofa, I looked over at Cooper who was still resting peacefully and then at my phone 8:30am. Great. I dropped my head back down on the sofa and watched Cooper, breathing slowly, the machines beeping. He was so still, I wondered if he could hear me. I pulled the blanket back and sat on the chair beside him, taking his hand in mine. I watched him carefully hoping he would wake up but his eyes stayed closed "can you hear me?" I whispered to him more questioning myself really. I'd been here before, I'd been in this situation – in the hospital bed, hurt and hanging by a thread. But it was so different when it was the other way around and it was someone you cared about lying there.

The last few months had been rough. Cooper struggled to handle his criminal charges and I struggled to hold the both of us upright. We'd been fighting a lot lately – more than we ever had before and I'd actually begun to consider leaving. I mentally kicked myself for ever considering it because it had taken something like this to make me realise I loved him. Neither of us had said it. We avoided it completely. Up until now it was just fun, we liked each other, we had fun together and there was plenty of chemistry between us but when it came to expressing any further emotions we both held back. And now I was sitting in a hospital room wondering if I was ever going to see him wake up again. It seemed so stupid. We'd been together for over a year and it seemed like the natural progression but every time I thought about it being said I got scared. And now here I was scared that it would never be said. That there would never be the chance.

I felt a painful burning in my chest as my throat began to clog, I gave his hand a quick squeeze and left. I needed some air. I walked down the hall to the elevator and rode it to the ground floor. As soon as the fresh morning air hit me I was able to breathe. I sucked in air and walked, he was going to be okay I kept telling myself. I think I'd told myself that hundreds of times in the last few hours alone but I was scared to believe it, scared that if I did he wouldn't and I didn't even want to think about what I would do if he wasn't okay. I hadn't even noticed I was crying until a hand reached in front of my face holding a tissue. I looked up to see an elderly woman in a hospital gown and a walker standing beside me, I smiled gratefully and took the tissue "you okay dear?" she asked in a rickety old lady voice "yes, I'm fine" I smiled as she sat down on the wooden bench behind me "I broke my hip" she said and I looked at her "I'm sorry?" I asked confused "I broke my hip 6 weeks ago and I've been in here ever since" she said and I raised my eyebrows "what about you" she asked patting the bench beside her. I sat and looked straight ahead "I'm not sick, my boyfriend was hurt last night" I said and she placed her thin, bony hand on my knee "oh, is he alright?" she asked gently and I shrugged my shoulders "they don't know yet" I said and she gave me knee a squeeze "those young ones have got a lot of fight in them" she said and I smiled. I noticed she was wearing a thin gold band on her left hand "where is your husband?" I asked looking around the garden "Rodger's been gone for 10 years now" she said thoughtfully and I raised my eyebrows "oh, I'm so sorry" I said and she shook her head "don't be, it was a long time ago. Love of my life he was" she said a smile on her face "first person to ever make me want to be better he was" she said and I smiled "how long were you together?" "oh 60 years, the best 60 years of my life" she said and I just stared at her "you were married for 60 years?" I asked astounded and she nodded "when you find someone who you don't think you can live without 60 years doesn't seem like long enough" she said looking at me "and how do you live without him?" I asked and she smiled "I don't really know, all I know is that the first year was the hardest I've ever had to live, then another went by and then another and now here I am 10 years later and I'm still okay" she said "are you happy?" I asked and she smiled "I'll never be as happy as I was with Rodger, but you find your own kind of happy" she said "and how do you know who is the right person" I asked and she smiled "you know because the very thought of living without them makes you want to take a dive of a 10 storey building" and I smiled as she kept going "I always said I didn't want to get married, but letting go of my fears and marrying Rodger was the best decision that I ever made. I got 4 beautiful kids out of it, I've got 10 grandkids so far and I've even got a few great grandkids" she said and stopped "but the thing I'm most thankful to Rodger for.. is making me the happiest woman alive for 60 years" she said wistfully "oh no, there's my nurse – she's a really bossy boots" she said and I laughed "it's been wonderful talking to you dear – I'm Lucy" she said taking my hand "Bella" I replied looking up into her pale blue eyes "well Bella, I wish you all the happiness that I had and more" she said giving my hand a squeeze. And then she was gone. Just like that she hobbled away on her walker frame, batting at her nurse with one hand and clobbering along with the other.

I sat for a moment thinking about what she had said. I didn't know what I felt, everything that had happened in the last 24 hours had confused me, stirred things up in me and made me wonder. I didn't have a clue where I was heading for the rest of my life but I had a feeling that Lucy had made me realise that there was only one person I wanted to go through my life with. And that person was now lying in a hospital bed.